Hechinger education reporter Jon Marcus says the decline is partly because of demography – the number of students graduating from high school peaked in 2009 – but the more important factor is parents and potential students balking at high tuition rates and becoming more unwilling to take on debt.

As one admissions official told Marcus, “we’ve reached a tipping point – the cost of college is really beginning to alarm families.”

The crisis is also affecting public institutions.

States have cut the amount they spend on higher education by more than 10 percent in the last two years, bringing spending down to 25 year lows. The cost of attending community college has risen by almost 10 percent in the last year.

The development comes as public officials, including President Barack Obama, are trying to increase the number of Americans with post-secondary education.